Freerange Vol.4: Almost Home

“What is the use of a house if you haven’t got a tolerable planet to put it on?”

Henry Thoreau, 20 May, 1860.

The concept of home is more complex now than it has ever been before. It is so many things: a house, a place, a country, an idea, a memory, a feeling of comfort or familiarity, a group or population of people. It is a place where you belong, a place you can return to, a place where you’ve settled. It is a lot of places. It might not even be a place at all.

In this issue, our contributors explore home – as a place and a sense – by literally climbing their local landmarks, by poking around the concept of shelter as a human right, by questioning our cultural interpretations, and more. Some of these enquiries seem timeless, stretching back to before humans were even humans, others are very much topical, predicaments of the twenty-first century.

Ultimately home is the whole planet, the universe and beyond. We share our home with billions of other humans, and billions upon billions of other species. As we “make ourselves at home” here, let’s not forget we’re not the only ones. Maybe it is best for everyone if we remain always and evermore “almost home.”

Featuring:

Unsettlement in the 21st Century by Hana Bojangles.

Home Is a Time Not a Place/Make Yourself at Home by Barnaby Bennett.

Going… gone: Kiribati and The Hungry Tide by Tania Leimbach.

Color Me English: Migration and Belonging Before and After 9/11 by Minna Ninova.

Griha and Graha: Where Do We Belong, Where Is Our Home? by Raj Sahai.

Homebody by Claire Hollingsworth..

Raise the Earth; Returning Home, Quietly. Ross T. Smith.

Home in the Driveway By Ruby Usa

Climbing Inside the Giant by Elizabeth Rush

Almost Home by Ben Brown.

Illustrations by Shakey Mo.

The Lambess Family. Photography by Noel Meek.

“The Right to a Home”. A Human Rights Perspective on Forced Migration by Joe Cederwall,